prettyscripts

chive: phpmyadmin alternative?

2012-02-10T04:13:00Z

i recently discovered chive from yii's home page, one of my most frequently visited site recently since i'm working on a project based on yii at the moment.

what is chive? from the site:

Chive is a free, open source, web-based database management tool, designed to bring joy to web developers - with easy administration, super fast UI and state of the art web technologies.

i downloaded a copy (v102) and have been using it for a few weeks.

i've been using phpmyadmin for many years to manage databases. i rely on it so much i've forgotten most mysql /sql commands. it provides a nice interface for most of my needs.

please note that this is not going to be thorough comparision. just a simple comparison based on my usage.

both are free, open source and web-based database management tools.

installation and configuration

both are installed by uncompressing the downloaded file and copying to selected server directory.

phpmyadmin requires configuration before using it (and requires some understanding of various configurations). chive runs out of the box.

user interface

both have similar user interface, but i like the default look for chive. it looks more modern and fresh.

phpmyadmin look dated but can be themed. there are also options to change certain appearances. chive doesn't have such option.

database manipulation

chive can only manipulate databases on the same server at any one time.

phpmyadmin, once configured, can access databases on different servers from the same interface.

chive does not have the 'operations' functions like phpmyadmin has. there are no interfaces to copy / rename database / tables. there are interfaces to run commands for such operations, but as i said, i've forgotten most of those commands and syntax. it's doable but inconvenient.

chive has interface to create store procedures and triggers with function template.

documentation and help

phpmyadmin is well documented (even in several different languages) and has quite a few supports and forums.

there are not documentation for chive (yet?) but there is a forum.

i've never used the forum so i can't comment how helpful or friendly they are.

the verdict?

i like the look and feel of chive. it can do most basic database and table manipulations. but lacking the 'operations' functions makes it inconvenient, as there are many changes i need to do throughout project development.

chive is still new and has potential to grow.

at this stage i will continue to use phpmyadmin. mainly because i work on several servers and it provides an easy interface to switch servers. and i can't live without the 'operations' functions.

yii: CGridView and show detail in CJuiDialog

2012-02-03T01:19:00Z

instead of going to a different page to view detail from a grid row, i'd like to show detail from pop-in / dialog box within the same page. i found an article from yii's documentation that does exactly that. the article provide solutions to open one or multiple dialogs.

here's document how to show detail using the single dialog with slight modification to the codes in the article for my own reference.

overwrite the view button

in view file, add the following to CButtonClass section of the array:

PHP:

	`<?php $this->widget('zii.widgets.grid.CGridView', array(`
	`.....`
	`'columns' => array(`
	`....`
	`array(`
	`'class' => 'CButtonColumn',`
	`'buttons' => array(`
	`'view' => array(`
	`'url' => 'url' => 'Yii::app()->createUrl("/path/to/controller/view")',`
	`'options' => array(`
	`'ajax' => array(`
	`'type' => 'POST',`
	`'url' => "js:$(this).attr('href')",`
	`'update' => '#detail-section',`
	`),`
	`),`

	`), // view button`
	`),`
	`),`
	`)`
	`)) ?>`

note:

line 11: the ajax section. yii will automatically generate the required jquery based on these data.
line 14: the # name should match that in the following section.

add dialog section

in the same view file, add the following:

PHP:

	`<?php $this->beginWidget('zii.widgets.jui.CJuiDialog', array(`
	`'id' => 'dlg-detail',`
	`'options' => array(`
	`'title' => 'Dialog Box Title',`
	`'closeOnEscape' => true,`
	`'autoOpen' => false,`
	`'model' => false,`
	`'width' => 550,`
	`'height' => 450,`
	`),`
	`)) ?>`
	`<div id="detail-section"></div>`
	`<?php $this->endWidget() ?>`

note:

line 3: for options check this demo page.
line 12: the id should match line 14 from above code.

change the view action

in controller file:

PHP:

	`public function actionView($id) {`
	`if (Yii::app()->request->isAjaxRequest) {`
	`$this->renderPartial('_view', array(`
	`'model' => $this->loadModel($id),`
	`), false, true);`

	`Yii::app()->end();`
	`}`
	`}`

note: the view only shows up in dialog. if want to allow to show on a page on its own, add else statement.

yii: default value for date picker field and CJuiDatePicker

2012-01-24T03:28:00Z

setting a default date value to a date picker field is not so straightforward. as in, simply set a property for the CJuiDatePicker widget.

there are 2 ways to do it. these are based on some forum posts i found a while ago.

method 1 - give the attribute a default value

say, default the field with today.

in the action function in controller file, prior to render a view:

PHP:

	`function actionSomething() {`
	`....`
	`$model->date_field = date('Y-m-d'); // default to today`
	`$this->render(....);`
	`}`

method 2 - use html option

in the view file:

PHP:

	`...`
	`<div class="row">`
	`<?php echo $form->labelEx($model,'date_field'); ?>`
	`<?php $this->widget('zii.widgets.jui.CJuiDatePicker', array(`
	`'model' => $model,`
	`'attribute' => 'date_field',`
	`'htmlOptions' => array(`
	`'value' => date('Y-m-d'), // set the default date here`
	`),`
	`)) ?>`
	`<?php echo $form->error($model,'date_field'); ?>`
	`</div>`
	`...`

note: line 8, set the default value.

yii: autocomplete field with CJuiAutoComplete

2012-01-20T03:17:00Z

i have previously written a post on the same topic with CAutoComplete. since CAutoComplete is deprecated (since V113) and replaced with CJuiAutoComplete, i should keep my notes up-to-dated.

i find that CJuiAutoComplete is easier to implement. the following is based on a this forum post.

view file or the form

PHP:

	`<?php $this->widget('zii.widgets.jui.CJuiAutoComplete', array(`
	`'model' => $model,`
	`'attritube' => 'name_of_attribute',`
	`'name' => 'name_of_field',`
	`'value' => 'default_display_value',`
	`'source' => createUrl('/path/to/controller/autocomplete'),`
	`'options' => array(`
	`'minLength' => 2,`
	`'select' => "js:function(event, ui) {`
	`$('#<field_id>').val(ui.item.['<id>']);`
	`}",`
	`'change' => "js:function(event, ui) {`
	`if (!ui.item) {`
	`$('#<field_id>').val('');`
	`}`
	`}",`
	`),`
	`)) ?>`

notes:

line 4: do not use codes line 2-3 this field is for display a value. ensure there's a hidden field on the form to be saved to the database.
lines 9 - 15: optional. for situation such as to display value on a field but save the id to database.
line 10: eg set hidden field with the actual data value to be saved to database, see next section regarding <id>
lines 12 - 15: clear field value if data is empty

autocomplete action

in controller file, add a new action:

PHP:

	`function actionAutocomplete() {`
	`if (Yii::app()->request->isAjaxRequest && isset($_GET['term'])) {`
	`$models = Model::model()->getData($_GET['term']);`
	`$result = array();`
	`foreach ($models as $m)`
	`$result[] = array(`
	`'label' => $m->attribute_displayed_in_drop down_list,`
	`'value' => $m->attribute_for_input_field,`
	`'id' => $m->attribute_for_hidden_field_or_to_be_saved,`
	`'field' => $m->attribute_for_another_field,`
	`);`

	`echo CJSON::encode($result);`
	`}`

notes:

line 7: can be formatted string to be displayed on the drop down list.
line 8: value to be displayed in current input field
line 9-10: optional. values to be set on another field on the same form. refering to line 8 above. can be accessed as array.

yii: save empty field as null

2012-01-17T23:52:00Z

this is an updated post in reference to a previous post about saving a field to null when no value is entered. thanks to those who left comment, this is the correct (and easier!) way to do it.

add a new rule to the model:

PHP:

	`protected funcion rules() {`
	`return array(`
	`....`
	`array('name_of_data_field', 'default', 'setOnEmpty' => true),`
	`....`
	`);`
	`}`

now the field will be saved as null if data is not entered.

wordpress: an alternative manual upgrade

2012-01-16T23:42:00Z

wordpress recently released V3.3. since i only recently started working on wordpress projects, it's the first time doing the upgrade.

of course i had to carry out on test sites to ensure it work. automatic update option is out since it requires to ftp to the server and the test server i worked on does not have internet presence. my only choice was to update manually.

a few days ago i tried upgrading by following the manual update instruction. there were hiccups. even though there are backups it was a pain rolling it back.

i came up with an alternative method to upgrade wordpress based on this instruction.

i could be doing something wrong somewhere with the original method. but since this worked, i'll document it for future reference.

imo this seems to be a better solution. if there are any files other than the core file changed, the latest version is always used. the only files that are replaced are project specific files. the original site also didn't have to put on maintenance mode for the process. and if anything gone wrong, simply rename the directories back to the orignal.

the essential pre steps

backup wordpress files and database. this should've been done on a regular basis.

download the lastest version and unzip. download any updated plugins.

compare wp-config.php from current site with the new wp-config-sample.php to see if there are anything new and edit if required.

the upgrade

create a new directory with the unzipped files.

based on a more detail overview of the upgrade process, note step 7 a list of "do not delete files". copy those files from the current site to the new directory, namely:

wp-config.php
wp-content/
- delete subfolders cache and plugins/widgets
- themes and plugins and updated plugins
wp-images/
wp-includes/languages/ - if required
.htaccess (if any)
robots.txt (if any)
maintenance files if any - .maintenance, wp-content/maintenance.php

rename files and complete upgrade

rename the current root folder to, say, backup, and rename the new folder to the current root folder.

from browser go to admin page. it will prompt you to upgrade.

viola!

note that the original instruction mention disable plugins before upgrade. i didn't do it to 2 of the development sites and didn't have any problems.

if you have encountered problem following instruction in this post, please leave a comment.

wordpress: maintenance mode without a plugin and customized maintenance page

2012-01-16T03:54:00Z

i know there are plugins for maintenance mode. i found a 3-part tutorial that shows how easy this can be done with just 2 files. this post simply documents how this can be achieved for my own reference and is based on this tutorial.

the 2 files required:

.maintenance - to turn on maintenance mode
wp-content/maitnenance.php - customized maintenance page

note that these files do not come with wp distribution and need to be created.

.maintenance

this file contains php code to turn on maintenance mode and triggers maintenance page to be displayed.

PHP:

<?php $upgrading = time(); ?>

the above code will display the maintenance page on both front and back end.

to display maintenance page for non-login user,

PHP:

	`<?php`
	`function is_user_logged_in() {`
	`$loggedin = false;`
	`foreach ((array) $_COOKIE as $cookie => $value) {`
	`if (stristr($cookie, 'wordpress_logged_in_'))`
	`$loggedin = true;`
	`}`
	`return $loggedin;`
	`}`

	`if (!stristr($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], '/wp-admin')`
	`&& !stristr($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], '/wp-login.php')`
	`&& !is_user_logged_in())`
	`$upgrading = time();`

when not required, rename the file to something else, say .maintenance.php.

wp-content/maintenance.php

this is the customized maintanance page.

PHP:

	`<?php`
	`$protocol = $_SERVER["SERVER_PROTOCOL"];`
	`if ( 'HTTP/1.1' != $protocol && 'HTTP/1.0' != $protocol )`
	`$protocol = 'HTTP/1.0';`
	`header( "$protocol 503 Service Unavailable", true, 503 );`
	`header( 'Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8' );`
	`?>`
	`<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">`
	`<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">`
	`<head>`
	`<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />`
	`<title>Unavailable</title>`
	`</head>`
	`<body>`
	`<h1>This site is currently unavailable. Please come back later.</h1>`
	`</body>`
	`</html>`
	`<?php die(); ?>`

note codes line 1 to 6 and line 19.

css: add text before or after

2011-12-19T01:09:00Z

use :before and :after psuedo elements with css property content.

eg, to separate a list of items with '|':

CSS:

li:after { content: ' | '; }
li:last-child:after { content: ''; }

note line 2: no separater after the last item in the list.

	`li:after { content: ' \| '; }`
	`li:last-child:after { content: ''; }`